Does the Bible teach Hatred or Love?

Does the Bible teach Hatred or Love?

I was at church last night and I had a really bad sleep because of the message that was taught by our deacon. This is my childhood church, I have been going to this church since grade two, and have been exposed to Catholic doctrine all my life. Although I understand what the teacher was saying, I think he missed the message of Jesus while he was interpreting Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple."

Taken literally that would mean that instead of fostering love in my relationships with other people I foster hatred. This is the problem I used to run into with a lot of evangelicals when Christians take this verse literally to foster hatred and bigotry in their heart. The doctrine of justification by faith is used as an excuse to not take the other teachings of Jesus literally and creates an environment of fear, where God's presence is pushed out of His church, and opens the door for man centered theology. In essence man becomes his own God, and need no longer respect and live in the presence and Grace of God. The saints knew that to go the Heaven we must not hate anyone.

When the bible talks about hating people it means we must prefer to be separated from all men and women, of course Heaven will be filled with people who chose God over earthly success, in order to be fully united to God. All it means is that God is to be our first love, but to tell the congregation to hate everyone is a sin against love. The bible also says "Love your neighbour as yourself" and unless you hate yourself you cannot become a Christian, but hating yourself means you love God more than you love yourself!

I know a lot of christians take this verse literally because they feel justified that their hatred for others qualifies them for God's love, but what they haven't learned yet is that no one qualifies for God's love because God's love is unconditional. The church has a really hard time accepting and showing unconditional love because of that damnation thing, and I just want to say that God loves everyone and His plan is that people who love God would live holy lives and live in His Presence, not apart from God.

The bible teaches that the highest form of self-expression is love. This is Mike. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.)

Comments

On Christian Marriage. (Short)

On Christian Marriage. (Short) The modern co-habitation crisis has produced a lot of single moms and dads, and has fractured "family units" allowing other family members and relatives to take a bigger role in these "Separated families." There isn't a "one cause" why families have separated or divorced, it is a complicated issue, sometimes resulting in very hard emotions for Society to process. Things like the "millennial sexual revolution" have contributed to the widespread "non-committal" attitude, which in turn has given the traditional marriage the "black eye" it currently has and has turned many Christian men away from seeking a life partner. The more society devalues "traditional marriage" the more co-habitation you will see in all the other generations as well as the Millennials. This is Mike.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins.

Matthew 25:1-13 I have discovered a remarkable interpretation of this parable that I would like to share with you. The story in the Bible goes like this: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy som...

The Existence of God

Since the beginning of time, man has learned about the existence of God. It began in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve walked and talked with God, however when they sinned, they died spiritually and their closeness with God was severed. In Genesis 4:26 it reads “Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.” Seth was the third son of Adam and Eve, so it’s fair to say that not too long after mankind fell, we also called upon the Lord. From that time until now, mankind was closer to God then, but it’s a modern shift that the world is in the state it is in now, mainly unbelief, because even 30 years ago from now, mankind was closer to God. It is also true that in ancient Israel’s history, there have been generations that fell away and forgot God, but in the time of the prophets Israel was never left without a word from the Lord. Many generations have come and gone, but there have been remarkable generations all thr...

The Super Blogosphere of a parallel word.

Search This Blog